Founded in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

in 2001, Sociologists Without Borders/Sociólogos Sin Fronteras (SSF) is a

Non-Governmental Organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

that advances a cosmopolitan sociology and its activities are considered to be

public sociology Public sociology is a subfield of the wider sociological discipline that emphasizes expanding the disciplinary boundaries of sociology in order to engage with non-academic audiences. It is perhaps best understood as a ''style'' of sociology rath ...

. The organization has active chapters in Brazil, Chile, Italy, Spain the U.S., Canada, and Iran. The Spanish and U.S. chapters each have international members. Each of the chapters has regular meetings and organizes sessions at national sociological conferences, and there is an affiliated online, peer-reviewed journal.

Overview

The group's central pedagogical aim is to develop a globally inclusive sociological curriculum. Its

epistemological Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge. Also called "the theory of knowledge", it explores different types of knowledge, such as propositional knowledge about facts, practical knowled ...

premise is that human rights and collective goods (including sustainable natural resources and participatory democracy) are two aspects of the same concept. As Sociologists, the group advances

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

by working through communities, societies, the workplace, and other

social institutions An institution is a humanly devised structure of rules and norms that shape and constrain social behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions and ...

. They advance the right to decent employment, social security, education, housing, food security, health care, the rights to cultural, racial, religious, and to an identity and sexual preference. Human rights also includes gender equality and the principle that vulnerable groups need special protections, including children, the aged, the disabled, oppressed racial and ethnic minorities, migrants, and indigenous peoples. These principles are drawn from the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal D ...

(1948) that recognizes "the inherent dignity" and "the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family," from various

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, scien ...

's treaties and declarations on culture. Human rights are realized with the advance and protection of common (collective) goods, including a sustainable environment, transparent laws and government, natural resources, the internet and information grids, fair trade,

food sovereignty Food sovereignty is a food system in which the people who produce, distribute, and consume food also control the mechanisms and policies of food production and Food distribution, distribution. This stands in contrast to the present corporate Agr ...

(the rights of farmers and fishers to manage their own resources), and participatory democracy. Indeed, human rights are themselves common goods because they are indivisible and inclusive. The group's framework is considered utopian, and Sociologists Without Borders takes the view that this is necessary in a world in crisis: wars, civil strife, diminishing environmental resources, epidemics, and the growing economic gap between the Global North and the

Global South Global North and Global South are terms that denote a method of grouping countries based on their defining characteristics with regard to socioeconomics and politics. According to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Global South broadly com ...

. What this pessimistic account leaves out, and what Sociologists without Borders stresses, is that there are growing interdependencies and solidarities around the world and these draw less from nation-states than they do from the capabilities and resourcefulness of ordinary people.

The SSF Think Tank

On July 25, 2008, the SSF US Chapter released an online discussion platform for reflection and discussion among concerned sociologists, other social scientists, NGOs, governments, academics, students, activists, journalists, and individuals who want to discover and hopefully help fight the "Challenges to Human Rights" in a global environment. This has since been taken over by The Development Cafe and is now run as Global Sociology Network, independent of the SSF.

2010 Arizona Boycott

In response to Arizona SB 1070, SSF petitioned Arizona Governor

Jan Brewer Janice Kay Brewer (''née'' Drinkwine; born September 26, 1944) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Arizona from 2009 to 2015, as a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party. Prior to this, Brewer ...

to roll back the law, stating: "SSF believes that Arizona Law SB1070 is a form of

racial profiling Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the offender profiling, selective enforcement or selective prosecution based on race or ethnicity, rather than individual suspicion or evidence. This practice involves discrimination against minority pop ...

and

discrimination Discrimination is the process of making unfair or prejudicial distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong, such as race, gender, age, class, religion, or sex ...

because officers will likely rely on appearance, phenotypes, language and accents to make judgments that will lead to the unnecessary harassment or detention of US citizens and residents, including SSF members and other Sociologists." SSF began a boycott of public and private entities within Arizona and encouraged their members not to travel to the state.

Members and Office Bearers

* Davita Silfen Glasberg, President, US Chapter *

Lisa Hajjar Lisa Hajjar is an American sociologist. She is a professor and department chair at the University of California, Santa Barbara sociology department, and a co-editor and contributor at the online magazine ''Jadaliyya ''Jadaliyya'' (" dialectic") ...

, Vice President, US Chapter * Mark Frezzo, Past Vice President, US Chapter * David Brunsma, Treasurer, US Chapter * Molly Talcott, Secretary, US Chapter * Autumn McClellan, Administrative Manager, US Chapter * April Stapp, Graduate Student Representative, US Chapter * ''Societies Without Borders'' Journal Editors: David Brunsma, Mark Frezzo, Keri Iyall Smith * Representatives to American Association for the Advancement of Science: Judith Blau, Mark Frezzo, Jerry Krase (Alternate) * Beatrice and Sidney Award Committee: Gran (Chair), Joe Feagin, Walda Katz-Fishman, Judith Wittner * ASA Liaison: Louis Esparza * Poet Laureate: Rodney Coates * Ali Tayefi, President, Iran Chapter

References

External links